What does it mean to “grow organically”?Oh yes, good point. Just because the growth isn't directed, doesn't mean it can't be "pruned." ;-) I should remove that phrase to avoid confusion. I hope my edit agrees with your intentions.

What does it mean to “grow organically”?I agree, but I think in the context of the source there was a contrast of what was driving the growth rather than what rate of growth or type of growth was occurring.

Mar25

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What does the phrase “I’m down with” mean?@MrHen I'm down with that interpretation. ;) But I still think, depending on the subject, that there's an element of familiarity when you use the phrase. To be "down with" something means not only that you like it, but that you have experience with it.

Why do golfers yell: “Fore”?From what I've read, the term "fore-caddy" has the most plausibility. The golfer would yell at the fore-caddy to look for the incoming ball, and I reckon it would take one round to shorten "FORECADDY!" to "FORE!"

Mar16

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Would you say “it's impolite” to your kids?I think many of our rules of propriety and "politeness" relate to cleanliness. If I were in a mood to have a discussion with my child, I could certainly go into detail about why certain taboos exist. However, a restaurant might not be an appropriate place for such a discussion. You give children too little credit, saying "it's impolite" should be enough and the child would fill in the blanks later.

Why do we “paint the town red”?Bah, I still think the Marquis of Waterford tale is apocryphal. At best the town was indeed painted red, but this was not the origin of the phrase: a link was drawn after the phrase became popular. There is no evidence the saying originated in the UK, in fact, most evidence points to a US origin. See: ngrams.googlelabs.com/… and ngrams.googlelabs.com/…

Using the definite article before a country/state nameQuibble and FYI. The Dominion of Canada was never an official formal name and fell out of use after WWII, although it did appear on some official documents up to 1967. The Canada Act of 1982 made the official, formal name of Canada simply: Canada.

Singular form for “headphones”?Agree. "She wore headphones in one ear and listened to him with the other" is perfectly understandable as would be "she was interrupted while dressing and was wearing her pants on one leg."

“Luck”, “coincidence”, “chance” — most appropriate in this situation?@The Raven Of course, now that I posted that I realize you mean "I found my X by luck" is non-idiomatic, not just "by luck." Even then, I respectfully disagree. I would use "by chance" if I wasn't actively looking for/missing something, but If I were looking for something and somehow stumbled upon it in an unlikely location, I could imagine exclaiming "I found my missing X purely by luck!"

Mar2

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“Luck”, “coincidence”, “chance” — most appropriate in this situation?@The Raven I'm with @Robusto on this. I don't think by luck is non-idiomatic. A simple google search for "by luck" returns many results. In fact, the phrase would sound far more natural to me than by chance in several situations: "Did you win that game of darts by luck or by skill?"